Pekin Duck Club!

[DenverDucky]

They look like they are having so much fun being near you! Any tips for the other members? Treats and such?

They are imprinted

I'm lucky that way . But ! I think the biggest tip is patience and time . The more time spent gently talking to them , coo'ing praising them. Smiling . Being happy and relaxed w them .. The better ! Offer treats too! My girls love PEAS and Romaine! ESP cut up and put In their pool . They liked feeder fish one time too lol . just talk lovingly and try try try

[/QUOTE]
Ack I forgot yours are imprinted hah. Soleil is too, that's why I can't answer my own question hah. How are other members without imprinted ducks "taming" their ducks? I know there are few of you that are still trying to work past scaredy ducks lol

 

[Robbo]

Ack I forgot yours are imprinted hah. Soleil is too, that's why I can't answer my own question hah. How are other members without imprinted ducks "taming" their ducks? I know there are few of you that are still trying to work past scaredy ducks lol

My biggest thing is spending time with them daily, talking to them each time I am in the yard, and treats. Even if it isn't true treats since I give so much a day. A little regular food in my hand and they will come up and eat it right out. Once they do that I will start petting them and then pick them up and just hug them close for a few minutes until they calm down. This is what I did with Ducky, who is my Khaki. She is the friendliest Khaki I know of and so many people over on the Khaki topic say it is so unusual that I have such a friendly / non-nervous Khaki who will come up to me now.

 

[countrygirl74]

2 Questions here,


1. How do i fix a limping 1 month old duck? It decided to jump off a ramp and now it is limping. Help?

2. One of my ducks made a low growl nose like... a toad. Never heard it before, why?

Others might chime in here too, but I can tell you what I would do...
1. make sure they are getting their niacin
2. wrap with vet wrap to help give the leg support (but watch for swelling)
3. wait a few days to a week...
My one Pekin girl "Yangtze" has done this multiple times doing silly stunts and usually her limp clears up within a week. I haven't wrapped with vet wrap yet as it was never too bad to do so, but I have some on hand just in case - lol.

As for the low growling, my Jumbo Pekin "Ping" does this all the time, especially when foraging - cracks us up.

I've heard a few people talking about "fermenting their feed" . I've always used crumble for my chickens and if I read this correctly you can feed this stuff to both. I'm 7+ weeks into the duck life. So all this (fermenting, ducks & BYC) is new to me, I've never heard anyone talk about this before.

Lots of people ferment their crumbles, but I prefer to ferment "mash" - it's more grain-like and easier to deal with in my opinion. I can make a 50lb bag of organic mash last a whole month between about 10 chickens and 4 ducks.

Here is what I did...
Fill a 5-gallon bucket about 1/2 full of mash. Fill bucket with water, enough to cover feed by a an inch or two - usually ends up being about 3/4 full at this time. Add 1/4 cup Braggs Unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar "with the Mother". Stir 2x's a day - in warm temperatures you could see it start to bubble (ferment) in a couple days. I also added some lactic acid bacteria that I made to balance the ACV in the ferment. You can also use some plain yogurt or kefir - it adds probiotics and adds to the ferment. You can also get your ferment going with yogurt or kefir instead of ACV.
As you feed, just add some more to the bucket. Add water as needed. It will just keep going and going. My last batch was going for about 6 months. I only had to stop because they ran out of my mash and I was forced to buy some organic dry crumbles for a short time. I will get back to fermenting as soon as I pick up my favorite mash soon! They are going through this crumble way too fast which is getting expensive!! The fermented feed helps their poo to be a little more solid, cuts down on the stink, and cuts your feed bill as there are more nutrients in the feed, so they eat less.
Here's a photo of me straining out their food into their bowl with a big "strainer" spoon I found at Wal-mart. It really doesn't take much more work than scooping out dry feed and if it rains outside, it just makes their ff more sloppy which the ducks love anyway.


the bucket is really low here but you can still see some bubbling...

what a difference 3 weeks makes!
Cookie , Webber & Charlotte first at 3 weeks then Webber & Cookie and Bottom pic of Charlotte- all at 6.5 weeks!
They are all 5 lbs now! Like whoa! And they are only 6 weeks?!
When are they considered adults? Laying age?

Love all your new pics! I considered mine adults when they started laying around 24 weeks, but they were really "full-grown" before that.

 

[BarredRockGirls]

Thanks! They have really grown! And I figured so but just wanted to check lol

 

[rubberduckies]

I'm wondering how much people are spending on food, if it's not to personal of a question? I have one duck whose main food is organic duck maintainer crumble from efowl. I buy it online (of course, hence name) for $40.00 for 10 lbs. and we go through that in about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. Our yard isn't very big so there's not an abundance of things to get but he does forage, we buy night crawlers and he gets corn, peas, carrots, lettuce, fresh spinach, etc. every afternoon and and evening at dinner time. I can't find any duck food here in my feed and farm stores and I'm unsure about what chicken foods to feed. Can anyone give me any ideas that might be a little cost effective?

I have also noticed that I have not lost 1 plant to slugs or snails this year, we have no dandelions in the yard ( I reach through the fence to the neighbors to feed him some), and the vegitables are growing wonderfully with the compost (remembering the posts a while back).

$40 for 10 lbs. of feed? Wow. That's love. Lol. I have 5 ducks and they go through 50 lbs. in about a month. They were eating Flock Raiser crumbles but last time I went to TSC the price had went up so I decided to try Dumor crumbles. I'm almost done with that bag now. I have to say I like Flock Raiser crumbles the best.

 

[chickery-do]

Others might chime in here too, but I can tell you what I would do...
1. make sure they are getting their niacin
2. wrap with vet wrap to help give the leg support (but watch for swelling)
3. wait a few days to a week...
My one Pekin girl "Yangtze" has done this multiple times doing silly stunts and usually her limp clears up within a week. I haven't wrapped with vet wrap yet as it was never too bad to do so, but I have some on hand just in case - lol.

As for the low growling, my Jumbo Pekin "Ping" does this all the time, especially when foraging - cracks us up.

Lots of people ferment their crumbles, but I prefer to ferment "mash" - it's more grain-like and easier to deal with in my opinion. I can make a 50lb bag of organic mash last a whole month between about 10 chickens and 4 ducks.

Here is what I did...
Fill a 5-gallon bucket about 1/2 full of mash. Fill bucket with water, enough to cover feed by a an inch or two - usually ends up being about 3/4 full at this time. Add 1/4 cup Braggs Unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar "with the Mother". Stir 2x's a day - in warm temperatures you could see it start to bubble (ferment) in a couple days. I also added some lactic acid bacteria that I made to balance the ACV in the ferment. You can also use some plain yogurt or kefir - it adds probiotics and adds to the ferment. You can also get your ferment going with yogurt or kefir instead of ACV.
As you feed, just add some more to the bucket. Add water as needed. It will just keep going and going. My last batch was going for about 6 months. I only had to stop because they ran out of my mash and I was forced to buy some organic dry crumbles for a short time. I will get back to fermenting as soon as I pick up my favorite mash soon! They are going through this crumble way too fast which is getting expensive!! The fermented feed helps their poo to be a little more solid, cuts down on the stink, and cuts your feed bill as there are more nutrients in the feed, so they eat less.
Here's a photo of me straining out their food into their bowl with a big "strainer" spoon I found at Wal-mart. It really doesn't take much more work than scooping out dry feed and if it rains outside, it just makes their ff more sloppy which the ducks love anyway.


the bucket is really low here but you can still see some bubbling...


Love all your new pics! I considered mine adults when they started laying around 24 weeks, but they were really "full-grown" before that.

I wish I could save this posting! I will make a mental note as to what page were on! Thanks, I will check with a feed store in Lancaster to see is they carry this. I know TSC doesn't but I'll make some calls!

Again Thanks.

I also want to Thank all the people w/ their ways of taming the ducks as mine could use the help!​

 

[chickery-do]

This is going out to you long timers. I haven't been on long but I have 160 post and today my profile id Welcoming me to BYC and telling me there happy I joined and I can change my avatar and such. But my photos are still there and my pm's are current. Is that normal and does it change anything?

 

[DonaldFan]

What does he sound like? My boys make short quick noises while the girls chatter more and sometimes sound like they are laughing.

 

[KBHatchery]

 

[DonaldFan]

Saw a lot of posts about nervous ducks vs imprinted. One of our main boys is Donald who imprinted to us. Most of my other ducks aren't imprinted. However, thanks to Donald, they eventually let us approach them. It takes a long time but when they see us interacting with Donald and the other ducks that have gotten used to us they get curious. Takes lots of patience and some treats don't hurt, either.